Out-of-town visitors and Columbia residents who stay at places like an Airbnb or Vrbo will soon have to begin paying a five percent tax similar to a hotel or motel tax.
Columbia’s city council tackled two short-term rental bills at Monday’s meeting and approved both of them. The first one requires short-term rentals to have insurance and a business license.
ABC-17’s Mitch Kaminski from our news partner KMIZ notes the council changed language last night so that a business license won’t be required until 2026. The council has also approved a bill that integrates bed and breakfast establishments and short-term rentals into the definition of hotels or motels for taxation purposes. Under the bill, short term rentals would be required to pay an accommodations tax of five percent of the gross daily rental receipts due from or paid by any transient guest.
Columbia’s city council also voted last night to set three public hearings on city manager De’Carlon Seewood’s proposed budget. Mr. Seewood will outline his budget blueprint at city hall next Thursday July 25, and the council will hold a budget work session on Monday July 29. The council has approved three public hearings where you can testify and weigh in on the budget: August 5, August 19 and September 3. Columbia’s new fiscal year begins on October 1, so the budget must be approved by then.
Columbia’s current operating budget is $533-million, which included $10-million in pay raises for the city’s approximately 1,500 city employees.